Prohibiting those with severe mental illness from being put to death would save time, resources and effort, while making the process more just.

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The authors are former top federal, state or county prosecutors in Tennessee.

Tennessee lawmakers will soon have the opportunity to consider a bipartisan bill that would prohibit the death penalty for people with severe mental illness.

As former prosecutors and Tennesseans concerned with the efficiency of our criminal justice system, we strongly encourage legislators to pass this important reform that is also supported by a wide range of mental health and criminal justice reform groups.

As our society’s understanding of severe mental illness continues to improve, we now know more about the serious impairments that disorders like schizophrenia or delusional disorder can bring into a person’s life.

Such illnesses are characterized by psychotic episodes, which greatly affect a person’s rational judgment and his or her understanding of what is real and what isn’t. This in turn affects an individual’s interaction with the criminal justice system.

Wrongful convictions for mentally ill defendants are a problem

Rick Bowmer, AP
States usually use three drugs in succession for execution, but the Constitution Project’s panel says a single overdose is better. ORG XMIT: ORRB101 The execution room is shown Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, at the Oregon State Penitentiary, in Salem, Ore. The Oregon Department of Corrections is preparing for its first execution in 14 years as death row inmate Gary Haugen faces lethal injection on Dec. 6. Officials are giving reporters a look Friday at the execution room at the state penitentiary in Salem. Haugen was already serving time for one killing when he was sentenced to death in 2007 for killing another inmate. He has said repeatedly he wants to cut the appeals process. Death penalty opponents still hope to head off the execution. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)(Photo:
File / AP
)

For example, studies show defendants with severe mental illness are at a higher risk of wrongful convictions. Even when a wrongful conviction is not an issue, severe mental illness will impact a defendant’s ability to understand or participate in the legal proceedings, to assist or communicate with his attorney, and to defend himself. Because of their psychiatric conditions, people with severe mental illness cannot be reliably classified among the “worst of the worst” offenders for whom the death penalty is intended to be reserved.

In addition, death penalty cases involving defendants with severe mental illness are notoriously complex. Indeed, mental illness is not always investigated properly at trial by defense counsel and is instead raised during the appeals process. This leads to lengthy appeals, and often, to the reversal of a person’s sentence or to a costly retrial.

Death penalty cases are almost always high-profile cases, generating significant media coverage even decades after the crime. For victims’ families, this may mean a painful reliving of the crime which can be stretched out for years on end, as it can be decades until a final decision is made in a complex case. With this bill, these cases would be removed from the system early on, saving the cost of extensive appeals and avoiding years of litigation and media coverage.

Edmund Zagorski was executed on Nov. 1, 2018 by electric chair. He was convicted of killing two men during a drug deal in 1983 and leaving their bodies in a secluded, wooded area near Interstate 65 in Robertson County. Submitted

Edmund Zagorski leaves the Robertson County Courthouse in Springfield on Feb. 29, 1984, as his trial on two counts of first-degree murder comes to an end for the day. Zagorski is accused of killing John Dale Dodson, 28, a Hickman County logger and Jimmy Porter, 35, a Dickson tavern owner. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Edmund Zagorski leaves the Robertson County Courthouse in Springfield on Feb. 29, 1984, as his trial on two counts of first-degree murder comes to an end for the day. Zagorski was convicted of killing John Dale Dodson, 28, a Hickman County logger and Jimmy Porter, 35, a Dickson tavern owner. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Undated photo of Paula Dyer, who was seven-years-old when she was raped and murdered by Billy Ray Irick in 1985. Irick is on Death Row waiting execution for the crime.Credit: Family photo
Submitted, Family Photo
Undated photo of Paula Dyer, who was seven-years-old when she was raped and murdered by Billy Ray Irick in 1985. Submitted / Family photo

Billy Ray Irick, on death row for raping and killing 7-year-old Paula Dyer, was in a Knox County Criminal Court Monday, Aug. 16, 2010 arguing that he's too mentally ill to be executed by the state. Irick was convicted in 1985 for murdering the Knoxville girl he had been baby-sitting. Michael Patrick/File/News Sentinel

Angie Kliebert heard the news the day Paula K. Dyer was killed and wanted to bring a small flower for her grave at Glenwood Cemetery Wednesday, August 8, 2018. Dyer was raped and murdered by Billy Ray Irick. Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

Rae Tennent comforts Anna Reside, left, during a protest against the execution at Fisk University Memorial Chapel on Thursday, August 9, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. Billy Ray Irick, who was convicted in the 1986 rape and murder of a seven-year-old Knox County girl, was scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday night. Mark Zaleski/ For the Tennessean

Fr. John Boylan of Christ the Prophet Church in Spring Hill, Tenn, holds a candle as protesters gather outside of the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution against the execution of Billy Ray Irick in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018. Irick, 59, was convicted in 1986 on charges of raping and murdering Paula Dyer, a 7-year-old Knox County girl. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe, center, smiles at the cameras a few times during his mental competency hearing in Memphis as court officers stand close by Jan. 24, 2000. Attorney Mark Olive of Tallahassee, right, is working with the defense in this hearing. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

The first witness for the defense was Dr. James R. Merikangas a expert witness in Neurology and Psychiatry from Connecticut, during the hearing to determine Robert Glen Coe's mental competency in Memphis Jan. 24, 2000. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe was very distracting to the court during a hearing to show if he is mentally competent to be executed Jan. 24, 2000. Several times he called the judge names and showed him the finger. He also tap his hands on the chair loudly during most of the hearing. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Charlotte Stout, mother of the victim, leans her head on her husband Mickey Stout's shoulder and listens as the defense questions a witness in the second day Robert Glen Coe hearing in Memphis Jan. 25, 2000. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe is surrounded by the defense team just before the prosecutors next witness, Charlotte Stout, the mother of the victim Jan. 25, 2000. The defense attorneys are (Robert Hutton, left, Jim Walker and Mark Olive. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Charlotte Stout, mother of the victim, reads a letter which she wrote to Robert Glen Coe while he was in prison during the mental competency hearing in Memphis Jan. 25, 2000. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe sits in the hearing in his own little world while a defense attorney questions a witness in trying to determine Coe's inability to be competent for execution Jan. 25, 2000. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Condemned killer Robert Glen Coe yells through his gag while his attorneys argue that he is incompetent to be executed in court Jan. 26, 2000 in Memphis. Two gags failed to stop Coe from screaming so many obscenities at the sanity hearing that he was hauled from the courtroom. A.j. Wolfe, A.J. Wolfe / The Commercial Appeal / AP Photo

Attorney General Paul Summers, left, is flanked by Solicitor General Michael Moore as he announces to media representatives that the executions of Robert Glen Coe and Philip Workman have been stayed April 4, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Joyce V. Judge, executive director of NAMI Tennessee, holds up a list of psychotropic medications that she says show Robert Glen Coe has suffered for many years with severe mental illness as she makes a plea to Governor Don Sundquist to commute Coe's death sentance to life without parole during a press conference April 14, 2000. Nina Long / The Tennessean

Harmon Wray is grabbed by two officers and is one of 19 protesters arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol officers in front of the executive residence of Gov. Don Sundquist April 18, 2000. The group, made most of Vanderbilt Divinity students and others, were protesting capital punishment and the execution of convicted child-killer Robert Glen Coe. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Tom Kimmel is one of 19 protesters arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol officers in front of the executive residence of Gov. Don Sundquist April 18, 2000. The group, made most of Vanderbilt Divinity students and others, were protesting capital punishment and the execution of convicted child-killer Robert Glen Coe. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Abraham Bonowitz, who from a citizens group in Florida, is one of 19 protesters arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol officers in front of the executive residence of Gov. Don Sundquist April 18, 2000. The group, made most of Vanderbilt Divinity students and others, were protesting capital punishment and the execution of convicted child-killer Robert Glen Coe. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

A death penalty protester sign rest on the wall in front of the executive residence of Gov. Don Sundquist April 18, 2000. Nineteen protesters were arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol officers. The group, made most of Vanderbilt Divinity students and others, were protesting capital punishment and the execution of convicted child-killer Robert Glen Coe. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Father Michael Johnston, left, and Alvin Haas put a cross in place in front of St. Henry's Church on Harding Road April 18, 2000. The cross along with the sign were then covered from view. They will be unveil by Father Johnston and the associate Father John Sappenfield at 1:00 am on Wed just after they learn that the State carried out the execution of Robert Glen Coe. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

A group of television reporters are interviewing Coalition United Against the Death Penalty director Abe Bonowitz, right, in front of Belmont United Methodist Church April 18, 2000 before an anti-death penalty vigil. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe's sister, front left, mitigation specialist Ann Charvat, center, Coe's brother, right, and other supporters make their way into Belmont United Methodist Church for a anti-death penalty vigil April 18, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

One of only a handful of death penalty advocates at Riverbend April 18, 2000, Virgil Spence, left, is interviewed by AP reporter Amber Austin. "They're wolves in sheeps' clothing," Spence said of those gathered opposite the fence from him in opposition to the penalty. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Brock Mitchel Slentz holds a candle in silent vigil against the death penalty during the minutes before Robert Glen Coe was executed by the state of Tennessee for the murder and rape of Cary Ann Medlin April 19, 2000. George Walker IV / The Tennessea

Members of the Robert Glenn Coe family leave the Riverbend Maximum Security correctional facility leave after witnessing Coe executed for the crimes of murder and rape to Cary Ann Medlin April 19, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Charlotte Ann Stout, center, mother of Carey Medlin, leaves the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Robert Glen Coe April 19, 2000. She is accompanied by RMSI P.I.O. Steve Hayes, left, family members and corrections officers. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Ruth Ventrice, Kenneth Odom and Liz Sodergren, opponents to the death penalty hold each other after it was announce that Robert Glen Coe was pronounce dead by lethal injection April 19, 2000. George Walker IV / The Tennessea

Attorney General Paul Summers addresses the media in the foggy, early-morning darkness following the execution of Robert Glen Coe at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution April 19, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Attorney General Paul Summers addresses the media in the foggy, early-morning darkness following the execution of Robert Glen Coe at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution April 19, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Dr. Bruce Levy, the Metro Medical Examiner that performed the autopsy on Robert Glen Coe despite objections by the dead man's attorneys, reviews his reports again Sept. 29, 2000. Levy and his state and Metro attorneys concluded that he had jurisdiction because Coe's death was a homicide and occurred inside a state prison. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Jimmy Coe, of Atwood, Tenn, brother of Robert Glen Coe, who was executed on Apr. 19, 2000, wipes tears before watching a film made by Dixie Gamble about Robert Coe's mental illness during the NCADP National Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville Oct. 18, 2003. Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean

People watch a film made by Dixie Gamble about the mental illness of Robert Glen Coe, who was executed on Apr. 19, 2000, during the NCADP National Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville Oct. 18, 2003. Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean

Attorney Barry Scheck holds a chart of the DNA Testing Scenarios in front of family members of victim Suzanne Collins during the clemency hearing for Sedley Alley at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution May 15, 2006. Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean

Chairman Charles Traughber, left, talks with defense attorneys next to board member Patsy Bruce during the clemency hearing for Sedley Alley at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution May 15, 2006. The board members voted 4-3 to recommend the Governor for the DNA test in Alley's case. Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean

With Riverbend Maximum Security Institution looming in the background, Anti-death penalty activist Donna Williard sits away from the crowd and contemplates the fate of Sedley Alley June 27, 2006. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Matthew Bond, left, and Kathy Masulis of Nashville part take in a candlelight vigil at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution June 28, 2006. The group was protesting against the death penalty shortly before the execution of Sedley Alley. Jonathan D. Woods / The Tennesse

A group protesting against the death penalty keeps up with news updates via a small television receiver at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution June 28, 2006, shortly before the announcement of Sedley Alley's execution. Jonathan D. Woods / The Tennesse

Protestors against the death penalty walk to their vehicles after receiving the news that Sedley Alley had been executed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution June 28, 2006. Jonathan D. Woods / The Tennesse

Gary Holton, center, uncle of alleged killer Daryl Holton and Keisha Leverette, right, cousin of Daryl Holton, talk with police near the front of the building where he killed his four children Nov. 30, 1997 in Shelbyville, Tenn. D. Patrick Harding / For The Ten

Daryl Holton, center, is led out of the Shelbyville Police Department by detectives Pat Mathis, left, and Lt. Chris Szaroleta Nov. 30, 1997 in Shelbyville, Tenn., after he turned himself in for the killings of his three young sons and a little girl his ex-wife had with another man. Police said Holton told them he shot and killed the children, ages four to 13, because he was afraid he would never gain custody of them. Bo Melson / Shelbyville Times-Ga

Rev. Stacy Rector, left, Michael Kelsh and Tom Kimmel sing at a vigil against the execution of Daryl Holton outside of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Sept. 11, 2007, in Nashville. Holton confessed to killing his three young sons and their half-sister with an assault rifle Nov. 30, 1997 and is scheduled to be electrocuted early Wednesday, Sept. 12. Mark Humphrey / AP Photo

The Reverend Stacy Rector, right, sings at a Service of Remembrance and Resistance in honor of Daryl Holton in Nashville Sept. 11, 2007. Rector is Executive Director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing (TCASK). Shauna Bittle / The Tennessean

Hector Black of Cookeville, Tenn., speaks about the murder of his daughter seven years ago during the service for Daryl Holton at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville Sept. 11, 2007. Black read John Donne's Meditation XVII, "No Man is an Island," in support of his opposition to the death penalty. Shauna Bittle / The Tennessean

Field Organizer Isaac Kimes makes a call at The Tennessee Coalition Against State Killing office where supporters are running a phone bank Feb. 2, 2009 to gather support for postponing/protesting the scheduled execution of Steve Henley Feb. 4. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tenness

Field Organizer Isaac Kimes makes a call at The Tennessee Coalition Against State Killing office where supporters are running a phone bank Feb. 2, 2009 to gather support for postponing/protesting the scheduled execution of Steve Henley Feb. 4. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

Family members of Steve Henley, who is scheduled to be executed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at 1:00 a.m., pray at the Brookmeade Congregational Church during a prayer service Feb 3, 2009. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

A prayer service was held at the Brookmeade Congregational Church for Steve Henley who is scheduled to be executed at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at 1:00 a.m. Feb 3, 2009. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

With the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution's lights behind her, Julia Thorne tries to keep warm as she and other demonstrators waited on the prison grounds protesting the execution of Steve Henley Feb. 4, 2009. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Priscilla Coe, left, and Amy Sayward pray during a candlelight vigil at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for Steve Henley who was executed at the facility Feb. 4, 2009. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Greg Henley and his sister Leanne make a statement to the press Feb. 4, 2009, after the execution of their father, Steve Henley. Greg Henley said that his family forgives the state for executing an innocent man. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Geoff Little, center, prays during a service Dec. 1, 2009 at the Hobson United Methodist Church in East Nashville held in honor of Cecil Johnson Jr., who was scheduled to be executed sometime after midnight. At left is Andrew Krinks. Alan Poizner / For The Tennessea

Karen Rybolt, far right, participates in a candlelight vigil outside the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville prior to the execution of Cecil Johnson in the early morning of Dec. 2, 2009. Alan Poizner / For The Tennessea

Death penatly opponents hold a candle-light vigil outside the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution prior to the execution of Cecil Johnson in the early morning of Dec. 2, 2009. Alan Poizner / For The Tennessea

As former prosecutors, we know the care that our colleagues put in researching a case before they seek a death sentence. We know that they do their best to take into account a defendant’s background and circumstances, including his or her mental health.

However, if defense counsel does not thoroughly research a defendant’s mental illness, a prosecutor may simply remain unaware of the extent of the person’s psychiatric condition. A short pretrial proceeding dedicated to the issue of a person’s severe mental illness will ensure that both sides are fully informed about the defendant’s mental health, which benefits prosecutors and defense counsel alike, instead of discovering it later on during the appeals.

This bill does not mean that we will in any way absolve individuals with severe mental illness from the crimes they commit. If found guilty, a person with these types of conditions would be sentenced to life or life without parole, therefore ensuring that they do not threaten public safety. The issue at hand is not whether these individuals should be punished, but whether we want to punish them appropriately, by taking into account their serious impairments and by avoiding years of costly appeals that might end up with a sentence reversal.

We urge Tennessee lawmakers to approve this efficient, smart and just reform. We can, and should, be tough on crime while being smart on sentencing, and we believe the severe mental illness exclusion bill, HB1455/SB1124 does exactly that.

William H. Farmer is a former advocate general for the state of Tennessee and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Hal Hardin is a former Tennessee Circuit Court judge and presiding judge of Nashville trial courts, and a former U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee.

Torry Johnson is a former district attorney general for Metro Nashville and Davidson County.

Jerry Martin is a former U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee.

Ed Yarbrough is a former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee and a former assistant district attorney in Davidson County.